ORANGE COUNTY VOLLEYBALL : Artists Erase Doubts, Win County Title

Any doubts that the Laguna Beach High School girls’ volleyball team could replace graduated hitter Ashley Wacholder and setter Kealy Clarke were erased Saturday night at the Orange County Championships at Edison High School.

The fourth-seeded Artists, led by the hitting of Rachel Wacholder, Ashley’s sister, and the setting of Shauna Shapiro, swept second-seeded Capistrano Valley, 15-8, 15-4, 15-7, in the Division I finals.

Wacholder, a 5-foot-8 junior outside hitter, had 21 kills and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Shapiro, a 5-8 senior setter who had 45 assists and 11 digs, made the all-tournament team.

“Shauna was superb,” said Laguna Beach Coach Mike Soylular, a former coach at Cal Poly Pomona and the University of Virginia. “We have at least three or four Division-I caliber (college) players on this team.”

Joining Wacholder and Shapiro on the all-tournament team were Capistrano Valley’s Allyson Carpenter and Jessica Lee, Corona del Mar’s Kim Coleman, Newport Harbor’s Misty May and El Toro’s Jaime Smith.

Laguna Beach, which defeated top-seeded Corona del Mar, 15-12, 15-7, 9-15, 15-11, needed only 45 minutes to beat Capistrano Valley (4-1). The Artists (5-0) led the entire match.

Tori Scott had 13 kills, including six in the third game, and four aces for the Artists. Wacholder had four aces and four solo blocks, and Anne Swayne, a 6-1 junior middle blocker, added five solo blocks.

“I’m very thrilled with this victory,” Soylular said. “I knew we were going to surprise some people. There were a lot of quality teams here.”

Capistrano Valley played the finals without starting middle blocker Tobi Roquemore, who sprained her ankle in the Cougars’ four-game semifinal victory over El Toro.

“I’m proud that we just made it to the finals,” Capistrano Valley Coach John Gipe said. “We’re a completely new team with Tobi in there.”

“When you go up against a team like Laguna, you can’t make any mistakes, and we did. We had a breakdown in fundamentals.”

Carpenter led the Cougars in the finals with 17 kills.

In other Orange County Championships divisions:

Whittier Christian wins Division III--Jen Rudometkin earned Most Valuable Player honors after leading Whittier Christian to a 15-4 victory over Ocean View in the championship game at Westminster High School.

Rudometkin and teammates Teresa Brickner and Becky Koeller also were named to the all-tournament team. Other players named included Ocean View’s Karrie Donahue and Shannon Speaker, La Quinta’s Tay Lu and Foothill’s Nicole Hoffman.

San Clemente wins Division II--San Clemente defeated Irvine, 15-13, in the championship game at Marina. Karissa Meith of Irvine was named the tournament’s most valuable player. San Clemente’s Dana Netherby and Lindsay Tanner were named to the all-tournament team with Tustin’s Christine Garner, Mission Viejo’s Kara Stephenson, Marina’s Jaime Wehrhan and Irvine’s Kristi McNitt.

Marina defeated Mission Viejo, 15-5, in the third-place game.